I found these three gripping, despite the subject matter of each not being something I would have expected to enjoy.
Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein (Times journalist, so a good writer and story teller). The story of his Mother's family, from Germany, at the mercy of Hitler, and his father's family, from Poland, at the mercy of Stalin. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that there is no possibility of either family surviving, yet we know that Daniel and his siblings exist, so their parents must have somehow survived.
The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. The story of the conceiving and construction of the Panama Canal. There's quite a lot of it, but the story is fascinating - how the many obstacles: physical, political, medical, nutritional, engineering, etc, were overcome. By no means a case of just chopping through a neck of land. And incredible how many people were prepared to go to such a deeply inhospitable place to build the great project.
The Box by Marc Levinson. I read this as it was recommended by another MNer some time ago. It describes the development of the shipping container (more interesting than you might imagine) and how international trade blossomed as a result.